1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to improved query meaning determination and in particular to improved query meaning determination through a grid service. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to converting free text strings into a search-ready string through a grid service that distributes the free text string to multiple meaning detectors functioning across multiple grid components and synthesizes the interpretations returned from the multiple grid components.
2. Description of the Related Art
A constant challenge within network environments is intelligently and reliably connecting users to just the right information available through the network. In particular, for those web sites providing interfaces for conducting electronic commerce, providing a way for consumers to find a specific product, service, or information is imperative.
To meet the challenge of connecting users to just the right information, a common service provided through network-based service is a search engine. Search engines receive a search query from a user and attempt to locate the information most relevant to the user's search query. Different search engines may organize data in different ways so that the data is easily searchable. For example, an index-based search engine indexes Internet documents to facilitate searching of those documents.
While the efficiency and breadth of coverage of content searchable by search engines continues to improve, a key limitation of most search engines is the actual search query entered by the user. Many users have little training or skill in determining good search terms and the mechanics of developing an effective search query to pose to a search engine is daunting for many users. Thus, a developing area of search engine improvement is the interpretation of search queries, whether the user enters keywords, phrases, or concepts as a search query. For example, natural language processing of search queries is becoming more prominent, where grammatical rules and knowledge databases are used to discover the intent or meaning of a search query and to enhance the search string used in the actual search based on that intent or meaning.
A constraint on current natural language processing tools, however, is that when a user is allowed to enter free text, the user may include multiple specifications in a single query. As the number of specifications increases within a search query, the complexity of parsing and thoroughly determining a meaning of the search query increases. And, in particular, current natural language processing tools are limited because they do not support parsing and meaning detection of multiple specification free text as an out-of-box feature. Parsing modules that look for certain categories of information within a multiple specification free text entry must be customized, leading to expensive to program, non-reusable modules that only search for programmed categories.
Therefore, in view of the foregoing, there is a need for a method, system, and program for efficiently and cost effectively converting multiple aspect natural language or other free text into a search-ready string with improved thoroughness in parsing and accuracy meaning determination in the search-ready string. In particular, there is a need for a method, system, and program for a multiple specification natural language meaning determination service available out-of-box with reusable parsing components. Further, in particular, there is a need for a network architecture for supporting efficient and accurate thoroughness in parsing multiple specification free text to determine meaning.